At this year's state of the city address, Palm Desert Mayor Sabby Jonathan celebrated the city's successes while pointing out its contributions to common challenges facing the Coachella Valley.

Speaking at the annual lunch event hosted by the Palm Desert Area Chamber of Commerce, Jonathan said Palm Desert is working with other area cities to solve problems like homelessness and rising public safety costs. He also celebrated achievements – and achievements delayed, like Hotel Paseo, which is set to open in less than two weeks.

"Everybody, fingers crossed," Jonathan said, eliciting a few chuckles from the crowd.

El Paseo

For the city's main shopping corridor, Palm Desert is studying plans to encourage outdoor dining and make it easier for people to stroll the neighborhood.

"El Paseo is not just an economic driver, it is a jewel for Palm Desert and for our entire valley," Jonathan said. "That jewel doesn't need to be remade, but like any treasure, it needs to be cared for and occasionally polished to make sure that it maintains its luster."

This vacant land in between Cook St. and Portola Ave in Palm Desert has been purchased by BlackRock and may developed into housing, February 13, 2018.(Photo: Jay Calderon and Richard Lui/The Desert Sun)

The university neighborhood

Outside of downtown, Jonathan spoke about a rising tide of development in the neighborhood around the universities, where he said the goal is to attract students, young professionals and families with a variety of housing types.

He name dropped a few projects on the horizon: a recently approved subdivision by Ponderosa Homes, expected expansion at Genesis at Millenium, a mixed-use development, and plans-in-progress for a 167-acre portion of the neighborhood purchased by financial giant BlackRock.

After seeing the first chunk of CV Link unveiled in Cathedral City last week, Jonathan said Palm Desert is working "aggressively" to see that construction on the transportation infrastructure project begins in his city within the next year.

Besides new travel corridors, Jonathan said Palm Desert must also work to replace aging infrastructure like streets, bridges and utility lines.

Business

The city's new economic development strategic plan calls for the establishment of a new business outreach program, Jonathan said, including working with the new owners of the Westfield mall in Palm Desert to encourage "revitalization plans" at the shopping center.

The city also wants to develop an iHub site in Palm Desert, Jonathan said, working with the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, Cal State and College of the Desert to "to attract new technologies and most importantly, related jobs, thereby expanding our economy well beyond hospitality."

Cannabis

Jonathan called the marijuana industry both a challenge and an opportunity for the city.

"This is uncharted territory for us," Jonathan said, "and something that I doubt our first City Council back in 1973 would have ever believed possible."

He said the city's priority is making sure that residents stay safe and that the roll out of the new industry is "business as usual." The city is reviewing applications for cannabis related businesses now and expects the first one to open later this year.

Homelessness

Jonathan, who chairs the Coachella Valley Regional Association of Government's Homelessness Committee, said the group is making progress on the CV Housing First program, which places people experiencing homelessness into homes instead of temporary shelter. Six of nine cities in the Coachella Valley as well as Riverside County, the Desert Healthcare District and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians are funding the project.